The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and more particularly to sorting belt conveyors that convey articles on carriers that individually release to drop articles from the conveyor at selected drop locations.
Flat sorters, such as tilt-tray sorters, cross-belt sorters, and bomb-bay sorters, are used to sort articles to cartons, totes, sacks, chutes, or discharge conveyors below the sorter. Flat sorters conventionally comprise a series of metal carriers arranged end to end to form a conveyor loop that follows a racetrack path in a horizontal plane. Articles are inducted onto individual carriers. When a carrier reaches the destination point of the article it is carrying, the carrier tilts, conveys, or otherwise releases to sort the article to its destination.
In many plants, especially on long sorter runs, it is convenient for the sorter to incline or decline over or under aisles or other facility interferences. Because the individual carriers of conventional bomb-bay sorters are made of rigid metal, they are not amenable to making the transition from a horizontal plane to an incline or a decline. Nor are conventional bomb-bay sorters easily adapted to make both left and right turns to follow a horizontal path that can snake through a plant.